White Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread Cookies

I just chalk it up to biorhythms. It's been a few weeks of veggies, fruits, salsas, and gazpachos around here, and I'm feeling like something's missing.  I can't help it, it's chemical.  When I go too long without anything sweet I tend to forage in the kitchen after dinner, sometimes I'll land on a bag of chips, other times maybe the jar of peanut butter.  That's my signal to get baking.

These cookies are light and delicate and not too heavy for the warm weather.  They freeze well, too, so you don't have to eat any more of them at one time than you want to.

White Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread Cookies
makes just shy of 2 dozen cookies
oven to 325
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup roughly chopped pecans

• Cream the butter and the sugar together.  Beat in the vanilla.
• Add the flour, chocolate chips, and pecans and mix well.
• Form into an 11-12 inch log on a piece of waxed or parchment paper.  Roll the log in the paper, smoothing it out as you go.  Twist the ends to secure.
• Refrigerate the log for about 2 hours.
• Slice the log into 3/8 inch slices and place on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.
• Bake for about 15 minutes until the cookies are just turning a light brown around the edges.  The centers will still be quite pale.
• Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet to firm up for a few minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack. 

Notes:  I always eat one cookie hot from the oven.  Just saying.

Go ahead

you know you want one

it's a holiday for gosh sakes,

and you can't argue with chemistry,

so have a cookie.